Lyra's joyride
by Writerdragon
Summary: Lyra wants to have a little fun on the Costa's boat, but everything seems to go wrong when she's around. Before The Northern Lights. One-shot.


Alright, I'd thought I take a break from writing _Monsters vs. Aliens_ fanfictions and write a HDM one-shot. I thought of this one when I read the whole trilogy. You see; if you buy all three books all in one, there were some extras at the end of each book. There was one where Pullman wrote something about Lyra hijacking the Costa boat. I'd thought I do my own version of it. This is before HDM. Enjoy:

* * *

Lyra's joyride

"Oh, come now, we shouldn't be doing this," snapped Lyra's dæmon.

The eleven-year-old Lyra glared at Pantalaimon, who was in the form of a starling. "Oh, Pan, grow a backbone," she snarled. "It's just a little ride."

They were on the docks, the gyptian boats were resting like sitting ducks to Lyra. They had beautiful flora designs on the hull, and on the sides of the ship. It began simple, then transformed in front of her eyes. They morphed into something more complex and fanciful. Lyra was wearing a red dress with little flowers embroidered on it. The sleeves were short, but flat, and the dress was quite plain. Pantalaimon darted around her feet, becoming a silver and grey cat. He whimpered; his ears low. "But the Costas will kill us," he pushed.

"They won't know," Lyra replied stubbornly.

She looked up at the ship that belonged to the Costa family. The flora pattern was pink roses and some green lilies around the bottom. Lyra looked around to see if anyone was watching. A man with a Bengal tiger for a dæmon was repainting some flours on his boat. He had a confident and concentrated face when he gently painted in small strokes with his tiny brush. His tiger dæmon was yawning, stretching out her limbs and then laid on the dock. Her banned tail twitched out in boredom. Lyra climbed up the ladder that belonged to the ship. Pantalaimon transformed into a blue jay in the blink of an eye, and landed on the railing of the ship. His fluttered his wings in anxiety, and chirped in fear. Lyra ignored him, and searched the ship.

Some boxes, about as big as her, filled with furs, smoke leaf, and whatever else the Costa family had stored in it. The sails were folded up tight so that the wind wouldn't blow it away out to sea. Lyra glanced over the ship, and noticed that no one was there. "Okay, Pan, all we have to do is let out the sails," Lyra stated.

Pantalaimon became an ocelot, and snarled. "We shouldn't be doing this," he hissed, his fur gleaming in the sunlight. "We'll be in big trouble. Worse than we ever have been before."

Lyra turned to her dæmon, and looked at him, twisting her lips and placing her hands on her hips. "Pan, for God sakes, where's your adventure?" she asked. "En't you have any?"

"Ya, but this is crossing the line," he hissed, his tail wagging from side to side. "If Uncle Asriel finds out about this, he'll beat us with every inch of our lives. And I don't feel like having Stelmaria's teeth in my throat."

"Oh, pish-posh, Uncle Asriel is in Svalbard," Lyra said.

It was true; her uncle was up in the north. He had been there for a month now. Asriel was a tall, broad man, with savage eyes and just as savage dæmon. Her name was Stelmaria, a large, beautiful snow leopard. Pantalaimon flickered into a wolf, jumped around, then became a polecat, then he became an African golden cat. "But that doesn't mean that he won't find out in some way," the dæmon said.

That was true as well. Asriel had eyes and ears everywhere, but some things that she had done had slipped under the radar. But, not all that much. Lyra rolled her eyes, and she looked up the large wooden pole with the sails strapped to it, and saw a rope dangle in front of her. "Just tug this, right?" she asked, more to herself than her dæmon.

Lyra tugged at it, and nothing happened. The little girl went savage trying to yank the rope, and, eventually, the sails fell. They fell with a _whip_ sound then an _fwoop_ sound. The large cloth fell out, and the wind was caught in it, forming a large bubble, and was creating a pocket of air in the large cloth. The sail had some rips that were stitched up and holes that were patched up. Lyra continued the process until all the sails were out and open. A gust of wind blew behind her, and the boat slowly moved across the cold sea.

"Okay!" the girl yelled, running to the back of the ship, where the wheel was. "We're good to go!"

Pantalaimon whimpered, and jumped around her shoulders, becoming a ferret. "I have a bad feeling about this," he whispered.

"Oh, hush up, Pan," Lyra snapped. "See, it en't all that bad."

In fact, the wind felt great on Lyra's skin and on Pantalaimon's fur. The ship advanced forward, the water lapped around the bottom of the ship. The girl's dæmon sat up erect on her shoulder, enjoying the spring breeze on his fur, and the sea water's mist covered his fur. "This . . . this is fun," he said slowly.

Lyra looked at him, a smug grin on her lips. "See, you were worrying for no reason," she said.

The boat entered the ocean, but made a slight turn. Lyra and Pantalaimon watched, with wide-eyes, as one ship was getting closer to her. "Turn! Turn the ship!" yelled Lyra's dæmon.

Lyra turned the wheel to the right, quickly spinning it out of fear. Meanwhile, on the dock, the man that was repainting his flowers on his ship had packed up his paint and brushes, and was walking away. "Well, we're done for today," he said to his dæmon.

"Yes, it looks perfect," his tiger dæmon said. "Nothing else could go wrong."

_Bang!_

_Crash!_

Both the man and his dæmon stopped, listening to splintering wood and the splashing of water. The man gyptian and his tiger soul turned around slowly, and saw the horror. Lyra had crashed into the man's ship. She was clinging to the wheel. Her hands were clasped to the wheel's handles, her eyes large and her hair was frizzled, her mouth clamped shut, like it would never open again. Pantalaimon was digging his nails in her dress, his fur straight and up, every single hair. "Oh my . . ." the dæmon began.

"God," finished Lyra.

"My ship!" bellowed the man.

Lyra and her dæmon glanced down over the railing of the ship. A tanned male with a large Bengal tiger as a dæmon was on his knees, looking at his ship. "No! I just painted this!" he yelled.

Lyra bit her lower lip, and swiftly and silently crossed over to the rope ladder. His tiger dæmon looked over, her eyes layered with anger and hate. "She did it!" the dæmon cried to her human.

He turned around. "_YOU!_" he hollered.

Lyra darted away, but the man followed after her. His dæmon was faster than him, and her jaws snapped around Pantalaimon's body, not harsh or violent, but he couldn't get away. The girl had to stop, her dæmon was caught. The man grabbed her by the back of her dress, and picked her up. She could count every hair on his beard, and his eyes were pissed off. "Alright, I know you," he growled. "You're Lyra." He glanced up at the boat. "Huh, en't this the Costas' boat?" The tanned male grinned. "Oh, I can't wait to see their faces."

Lyra was being dragged, and she struggled in his grasp. Pantalaimon wiggled in the jaws of the tiger, but she pressed down a bit on the ferret, and he stopped. "Great," the dæmon mumbled.

* * *

Ma Costa felt like she was going to explode. Lyra was looking at the wooden floor of the dock, and dæmon in her arms in the form of a cat. "I'm sorry," the girl whispered.

"Sorry?!" she yelled. "Look at my ship! Look!" Her hands were outstretched towards her boat and the other ship.

The front end of the Costa boat was collided into the back of the other ship. Wood shards were in the ocean, and drifted away in the waters. "I told her not to!" Pantalaimon yelled, defending himself. "She never listens to me!"

Ma Costa's hawk dæmon glared hard at Lyra's dæmon, who buried into her arm, hiding his face. Ma Costa growled animal-like. "I can't believe you!" she yelled. "You ruined two good boats!"

"And I just painted that boat," grumbled the tanned man. His tigers were locked in his dæmon's fur; she was growling; her tail flickered from side to side. She was calming her human.

Ma Costa huffed out, and her hand collided into the side of Lyra's head. "And I leave the rest to your uncle," she said. Lyra's eyes widened. "That's right; I'll tell your uncle."

"But—"

"Nope, you can't weasel out of this one," Ma Costa said sternly. "Get back home. _Now_."

Lyra knew that tone. She hung her head, gripped her dæmon, and walked away. She heard some men laugh in the background, and a man named Benny, the cousin of the Costas, whose dæmon was male, was glaring at Lyra. "Someone should discipline that brat," he snarled.

She heard him, and picked up the pace. Pantalaimon looked up; his furred face looked of that of a smug expression. "Hate to tell you, but I told you so."


End file.
